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    For Native American students, tribal regalia is often passed down through generations and worn at graduations to signify connection with the community. A bill vetoed earlier this month by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, would have allowed any public school student to wear traditional garments, feathers, beaded caps or stoles or similar objects of cultural and religious significance. Disputes over such attire have spurred laws making it illegal to prevent Native American students from wearing regalia in nearly a dozen states including Arizona, Oregon, South Dakota, North Dakota and Washington.

      Factors largely outside of farmers’ control – from the increasingly unpredictable weather to growing costs of everything from fuel to loans – make the threat of losing the beloved family farm a constant worry. That’s been affecting mental health and driving an uptick in suicides among agricultural workers. So heartland states like Minnesota and South Dakota are training rural clergy in suicide prevention, teaching pastors how to start conversations about mental health and how to respond to them. Dozens of faith leaders are learning to destigmatize seeking help for mental health among particularly self-reliant and proud congregations, so that they can stay healthy and continue to grow the crops and raise the livestock that feed people across the United States and beyond.

        Some 1,500 law enforcement officers from several states were among 3,000 mourners paying their final respects to a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot by a suspected drunken driver during a traffic stop. The funeral for St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitlin “Kaitie” R. Leising was held Friday in the gymnasium of Hudson High School while a montage of photos from her life were shown on a large screen overhead. Leising’s family, including her wife, Courtney, and their 3-month-old son, Syler, stood to the side of the casket, hugging visitors. Sheriff Scott Knudson said that in less than a year with his office, Leising earned commendations and the admiration of her colleagues.

          Members of a small tribe in Arizona are marking the renaming of a popular campground in Grand Canyon National Park as Havasupai Gardens. The Havasupai Tribe had lobbied the federal government for years to change the name from Indian Garden. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names granted approval in November. Tribal members trekked down a portion of the Bright Angel Trail last week for a blessing and dedication ceremony. It was an emotional homecoming for participants. And for the federal government, it was a reckoning of sorts nearly a century after it forced the last of the Havasupai people from the land.

            Two people are dead and a third person is critically injured after a South Dakota police chase at speeds over 100 mph ended when the fleeing vehicle crashed into a semi. Yankton County Sheriff Preston Crissey said the chase began around 10 a.m. Wednesday when a driver refused to stop after a state trooper tried to stop their vehicle on state Highway 50 outside Yankton. The fleeing vehicle struck a semitrailer truck and crashed near the Yankton city limits. Two of the people in the vehicle died at the scene and the third person was rushed a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Their names and ages were not immediately released. The highway was closed for several hours while authorities cleaned up the wreck.

              “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to dismiss his sweeping sexual abuse indictment in state court. The 46-year-old is charged with 18 felonies accusing him of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for more than a decade. Chasing Horse and lawyers argue that his accusers wanted to have sex with him. His appeal filed Tuesday marks his latest attempt to end the case after a Nevada judge upheld Chasing Horse’s indictment last month. The judge ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence for a reasonable grand jury to return an indictment on charges of sexual assault, kidnapping and child abuse. Chasing Horse's trial was set to start May 1 but has been put on hold indefinitely while he appeals.

              A broadcast reporter has pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge filed for making a prank phone call using South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s personal cell phone number. Reporter Austin Goss pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor that stemmed from a prerecorded prank call he made Jan. 22 to the former chair of the South Dakota Republican Party. The call came from a website called PrankDial, which made it appear that it was coming from Noem’s cell phone. Goss was fired from his job as the Capitol bureau reporter for Dakota News Now after the news organization learned of the matter. Goss’ lawyer, Jason Glodt, called the call a “practical joke” between Goss and a friend.

              Tyson Foods suffered a surprise loss in the second quarter, something not seen since 2009. Shares slid more than 15% Monday as Tyson has been trying to cut costs over the past 6 months. It announced closure of its offices in the Dakota Dunes in Oct. 2022.

              North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a law that protects tribal cultures by codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law. The measure gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children. The federal law was enacted in 1978 in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies. Several other states — including Montana, Wyoming and Utah — have considered codifying the act this year, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the federal law.

              Authorities say a  suspected drunken driver shot and killed a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop before running into some nearby woods and killing himself. The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Sunday that during a conversation about field sobriety tests on Saturday, Jeremiah Johnson was “evasive,” drew a handgun and shot 29-year-old St. Croix County Deputy Kaitie Leising in Glenwood, about 60 miles east of Minneapolis. Authorities say an hour after the shooting, an officer heard a gunshot in the woods and saw the 34-year-old Johnson fall to the ground. St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson says Leising previously worked for the sheriff’s office in Pennington County, South Dakota.

              The University of South Dakota has introduced the Bachelor of Science in music with a specialization in industry and technology. USD is the only institution in the South Dakota Board of Regents to offer such a program. 

              Indigenous families and tribal communities are gathering across North America, many wearing red in solidarity as they honor thousands of missing and slain relatives. Friday marks Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day. It's a solemn effort to draw attention to the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who have faced violence or vanished altogether. Federal health statistics show Native American and Alaska Native women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than women overall in the United States. The marches, symposiums, prayer gatherings and ceremonies aim to raise pressure on policy makers to provide adequate law enforcement resources in Indian Country.

              Opponents of planned liquid carbon dioxide pipelines in the Midwest won a victory when an Iowa judge ruled that a state law that gives surveyors the right to enter private property is unconstitutional. In his ruling Wednesday, District Judge John Sandy denied a pipeline company’s request for an injunction that would allow survey crews access to Martin’s Koenig’s farmland near Sioux Rapids in northwest Iowa. Sandy says a law giving crews that access violated the state constitution because it doesn’t provide just compensation for damages to landowners in exchange for the loss of their right to deny entry to their land. Pipeline company Navigator CO2 Ventures says it will appeal the ruling.

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              Eds: The South Dakota editorial roundup will not move this week due to a lack of editorials of state-wide interest. We will resume the roundup at its normal time on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

              North Dakota’s House and Senate have adjourned, marking the end of a session where state lawmakers aggressively passed bills to restrict transgender rights, abortion access and library content. The new laws include a trans sports ban, restrictions on gender-affirming care to minors, limits on bathroom access for trans people, more public assistance for pregnant women, a ban on nearly all abortions, and a ban on sexually explicit materials in children's sections of libraries. Burgum has until May 19 to act on pending bills. That includes a bill that would allow teachers and government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use.

              In our top stories collection for the week of Feb. 12, we soar with some Yankton-area eagles, check in with NW Iowa legislators about their 1st month, cover postseason pushes from high school wrestlers, report on an invasive species and much more.

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